Washing machine or the like



Aug. 31 1926. 1,598,355

J'. MAKI WASHING MACHINE OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. 20. 1924 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Aug. 131 1926. 1,598,355

J. 'MAKI WASHING wmclimsI on THE LIKE Filed Sept. 20, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 MMM /2 ll c@ /5 f uk' 5 /4 20 7 7 Hi 2 Vgl SEM 2 i la' m l Aug. 31', 192e. 1,598,355

J. MAKI WASHING MACHINE OR THE LIKE Filed Sept. 20, 1924 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 vila",

f be termed door sills in a Patented Aug. 3l, 1926.

UNITED STATES JULIUS MAKI, 0F CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR T0 THE WHELCO MANUFACTURING COMPANY, A 4('JORIORATIION OF ILLINOIS.

WASHING MACHINE 0R THE LIKE.

Appucation inea september 2o, 1924. serial No. 738,781.

There are several features or characteristics of laundry washing machines Aof the rotar-y cylinder type that cause more or less trouble, in operation. The cylinders rotate within stationary'ca'sings that must be made appreciably larger in diameter than the cylinders and, consequently, when articles are being placed in or removed from a cylinder some. frequently drop down into the space between the cylinder and the surrounding casing or shell. Various expedients are resorted to for overcoming this difficulty, among them being the use of a board or shelf that is laid across the vgap between what may cylinder and its casings. l l

Viewed in one of its aspects, the present invention may be said to have for its object to provide a'cylinder of a washing machine or the like with means for automatically forming an effective unloading Vshelf between the cylinder and the surrounding casingl` or shell, upon the opening of the door in the cylinder.

Another difficulty that isencountered in machines of this kind is due to wear upon theA catches or locking devices for the Swinging doors with which the cylinders are usually provided. Such wear soon creates a looseness which not only causes the doors to rattle but frequently permits them to swing open far enough, when locked, to permit small articles of laundry to escape.

Viewed in another of its aspects, thepresent inventionA may be said to have for its object to produce a simple and novel door construction which will operate'efiiciently indefinitely, without becoming loose enough to rattle and without permitting the opening of cracks through which even the smallest article among the contents of a cylinder could escape.

In carrying out the aforesaidfeatureszof my invention, I make usev of a double door or rather of two doors one of which lis hinged at the upper edge of the door opening in the cylinder and the other at the lower edge of such opening, regarding the opening as occupying the position which it must assume when the cylinder is to be filled or emptied. The lowerdoor is made narrow so that when it is swung into an open position it will bridge the gap between the wall of the cylinder and the surrounding casing or shell, preferably resting .at its outer marginal portion on what may be termed the door sill of the shell or casing. This lower or auxiliary door is preferably made only wide enough to serve as an efcient unloading shelf and thus does not, when open, project beyond thel front line of the machine and does not increase the width or depth of the machine from front to rear. The upper or main door has a width almost as great as the height of the door opening. The hingesfor the upper or vmain door have swinging leaves long enough to extend entirely across the door opening, and these leaves are preferably arranged close tothe sides of thedoor opening so as to form the effective side edges of the door. The free ends of these hinge leaves therefore project beyond the lower or outer edge of the main door and, when the latter is in its lclosed position, they extend into proximity to the hinge axis of the lower door. Therefore, when the lower door is swung shutit overlies the projecting portions of the hinge leaves on the upper door, filling the gap between the lower edge of the lower door and the bottom of the door opening.

When both doors lare closed, the lower door serves asI a lever for locking the upper door in its closed position; the fulcrum of the lever being the hinge axis of thelower door. By providing thelower door with catches or locking devices near its upper or free edge, excessive Wear or other causes that could produce a looseness sufficient to permit the lower door to swing through a considerable angle, when locked, could not cause or permit any considerable looseness in the main door. This is for the reason that the lower door engages the projections from the main door at points near the hinge axis of the lower door and therefore the lower door could swing through a considerable angle without permitting the main door to swing through more than an infinitesimal angle.

This construction possesses other advantages. The upper door is not required to support the usual heavy locks which are mounted on the narrow lowerdoor, and consequently the upper door is comparatively light Iand easily handled; and the locks are protected' against damage because they are so near the hinge axis about which they rotate that they cannot be subjected to the severe blows that they receive when mounted near the free edge or margin of a wide door. I am also enabled so as to construct the stationary hinge leaves for the lower or auxiliary door that they will serve as stops against which the free ends of the upper swinging hinge leaves will strike when the upper door is closed, thus imposing the blow or shock on closing the upper door upon members designed effectively to resist the same. Another advantage in my improved construction lies in the fact that the long swinging hinge leaves serve as the cleats upon which the staves or panel for the upper door may be secured, the same being laid upon these hinge leaves so as to be accessible for removal or replacement when the door is closed. Another advantage that results from the use of the double doors is that a cylinder may be turned more readily, than heretofore, to bring the door therein into registration with the door in the shell or casing if such registration is not obtained at the time the cylinder is initially stopped. As long as the cylinder is stopped in such a position that the small door lies somewhere in the door opening of the shell or' casing, this small door maybe opened, permittin the operator to reach into the cylinder an turn it by hand into the desired position.

There is another aspect in which lthe present invention may be viewed. Cylinders of washing machines are commonly provided with internal ribs for engagement with the clothes. One of the objects of the present invention is to produce a simple and novel rib construction whereby a more effective rubbing action on the clothes may be had than heretofore.

The various features of novelty whereby my invention is characterized will hereinafter be pointed out with particularity in the claims; but, for a full understanding of my invent1on and of its objects and advantages, reference may be had to the following detailed description taken `in connection with the accom anying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is a ront v1ew of a two compartment washing machine embodying the present invention, one compartment being opened and the other closed; and a fragment of the casing and of the wall of the cylinder being broken away to expose the interior of the cylinder; Fig. 2 is a section taken approximately on line 3 3 of Fig. 1, showing the door closed; Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2 showing the door open; Fig. 4 is a section taxen approximately on line 4 4 of Fig. 1, onfan enlarged scale; Fig. 5 is a front elevation, on an enlarged scale, of a fragment of the cylinder, showing one end of one of the small auxiliary doors and the adljacent portions of the cylinder; and Fig. 6

1s a section taken approximately on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

y In the drawings I have illustratedmy in- V'ention as applied to a simple two-compartment washing machine and, for the sake of brevity, I shall confine the detailed description to this specific embodiment of my invention; although it will of course be understood that, viewed in some of its aspects, my invention is not limited to washing machines, nor is it limited to machines having any particular number of compartments.

Referring to the drawing, 1 represents the rotatable horizontal cylinder and 2 the stationary cylindrical casing or shell of la common form of washing machine. The

-cylinder is divided into two compartments by means of a central transverse partition 3. The upper front quarter of the casing or shell is cut away to vform a door opening 4 adapted to be closed by a suitable door, such as the sliding sheetmetal door 5 illustrated. A section is cut out of the Awall of the cylinder from one end to the other to form door openings leading to the interior thereof,`the opening in the cylinder being narrower, measured in the circumferential direction, than the opening in the casing or shell. The upper edge of each door opening in the cylinder is bounded by a heavy longitudinal bar or sill 6, while there is a similar bar or sill 7 at the bottom of the opening. Two heavy hinges are'connected to the'cylinder at the upper edge of each door opening, each hinge consisting of a stationary leaf 8 fastened to the cylinder body and to the sill 6, together with a long heavy swinging lea-f 9 adapted to extend entirely across the door opening and engage with the lower sill when swung downwardly. These hinges are placed close to the sides of the door openings. The main door for each opening is formed of means laid upon the swinging hinge leaves and secured thereto by bolts or otherwise; the hinge leaves therefore serving as door cleats. In the arran ement shown, each main door is made o three Wooden staves l0 laid parallel with each other across the two cleats and secured to the latter by means of bolts 11 passing through the cleats, through the staves, and through comparatively thin metal plates 12 overlying the staves. The door body'thus formed is narrower than the door opening, a gap being left between the lower edge of the door and the lower door sill, which gap is spanned only by the projecting ends of the hinge leaves 9. This gap is adapted to be closed by an auxiliary `door 13 hinged to the lower sill 7 by hinges whose stationary leaves 14 are referably bent upwardly at their inner ends, to form a facing for the sill to take the blows from and serve as bearings for the free ends of the swinging hinge leaves 9. The auxiliary door is made just wide enough to form with the main or upper door a complete closure for the door main door.

opening when both doors are closed; the door 13, under those conditions, overlying the lower ends of the hinge leaves 9 and forming, in effect, a continuation of the When the lower or auxiliary door is swung open while its door sill is about the same horizontal plane' as the sill of the door opening in the shell or casing, it projects outwardly through the door opening in the casing and rests upon the lower edge or sill of the latter, as shown 1n F1g. 3, bridging the gap between the periphery of the cylinder and the surrounding casing and serving as a loading shelf which prevents articles from dropping down into the space between the cylinder and the casing as they are being removed from or placed into the cylinder. The auxiliary door is provided at each of its ends with a suitable casing'l provided with a catch 16 that is adapted to engage with a suitable recess in an end wall 17 or a partition wall of the cylinder. The casing 15 may form part of the' swinging leaf of the corresponding hingec for the lower door, so that the ends of the narrow lower door are in effect combined metal hinge leaves and latch casings.

When both doors are closed, it will be seen that the combined cleats and hinge leaves 9 of the upper door, as best shown in F ig. 4, lie close to the side bounding walls for the door opening. Since they are not subjected to any wearing action along their outer edges or sides, they insure the maintenance of comparatively tight joints along the sides of the door. As will best be seen from Figs. 2 and 3, when the upper door is swung down into a closed position, the projecting portions of the cleats or long hinge leaves strike against the upturned portions of the lower stationary hinge leaves 14; both of the engaging surfaces being wear-resisting so that no appreciable wear occurs for a long time due to careless closing of the upper door.4

Since the locks or catches are on the lower door instead of on the upper door, the weight of the latter is much less than that of the ordinary door, and this further assists in assuring-long life to a door which is not always carefully handled. It will be seen that when the small door is swung into its closed position, the leaves 9 are in contact with the inner surface 'thereof close to the lower hinge axis so that the upper door is held closed by what is in effect a powerful catch engaged with the edge farthest from the hinge axis. Furthermore the auxiliary door is not only a strong catch, but a catch which locks by exerting a powerful lever action. l j

It will therefore be seen that I have devised a simple and novel door construction that is easy to operate, that will initially forma tight closure, that possesses great durability andthus indefinitely remains an efficient closure, that automatically forms an efficient loading or unloading shelf upon being opened, and that permits access to the interior of the cylinder even though the door opening in the cylinder be not fully in registration with the corresponding opening in the surrounding shell or casing.

It is common to provide washing cylinders with internal ribs extending longitudinally thereof. As the cylinder revolves or oscillates, the clothes are carried upwards by the ribs and dropped back into the bottom of the cylinder, thus agitating the clothes and rubbing them more or less over thc surfaces of the ribs. In accordance with my invention, I employ a series of straight parallel ribs 20 and also a pair of ribs 21 and 22, arranged diametrically opposite each other and decreasing gradually in height from one end to the other. The ribs 21 and 22 are oppositely disposed, the shallow end of one being directly opposite the deep end of the other or, in other words, the inclined inner edges of the two tapered ribs are parallel with each other. In two adjacent compartments, as shown in Fig. 1, the tapered ribs in one compartment are oppositely disposed withrespect to the tapered ribs in the other compartment. In operation, as the cylinder revolves, the clothes slide lengthwise down the incline of those tapered ribs that are in the under half of the cylinder and then, when the other tapered ribs approach the bottom, the clothes slide along these ribs'in the opposite direction. Thus the clothes will be caused to slidel along the ribs back and forth in the direction of the length of the cylinder, insuring a much more effective rubbing and washing o eration than has heretofore been possible. y placing the inclined or tapered ribs in two consecutive compartments in reverse relation to each other, it will be seen that the lengthwise movement of the clothes in these two compartments is always in opposite directions, producing a balanced effect and avoiding a tendencyto thrust the cylinder bodily in one direction or the other.

lVhile I have illustrated and described with particularity only a single preferred form of my invention, I do not desire to be limited to .the exact structural details thus illustrated and described; but intend to cover all forms and arrangements which come within the definitions of my invention constituting the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In combination, a hollow horizontal cylinder mounted for angular movement about its long axis, a casing slightly larger than the cylinder surrounding the cylinder, the cylinder and the casing having door openings adapted to register with each other in a predetermined position of the cylinder,

two doors for the opening in the cylinder,.

one of the doors being -hinged at the upper los ` iliary door hinged to iliary edge ofthe opening and the other being hinged at the lower edge of the door opening, the latter door being somewhat wider than the distance between the walls of the cylinder and the casing so as to form a bridge between the lower edges of the two door openings when it is swung open.

2. The combination with a receptacle having a door opening, of a main door hinged at one edge of the opening and extendin to within a short distance of the opposite e ge, the said door having a projection extending into the vicinity of the latter edge, an auxdoor hinged at the latter edge -and overlying said projection when both doors tween the receptacle and the auxiliary door remote from the hinge axis of the latter. 4. The combination with a receptacle having a door opening, of hinges attached to the receptacle at one edge of said opening and each having a swinging leaf extending entirely across said opening and overlapping the receptacle of the opposite edge, a main door secured to saidleaves and having such dimensions that in the closed position it leaves a portion of the opening at the lastmentionedwedge uncovered, and an auxthe receptaclefin position to close that portion of the opening not covered b the other door.

j 5. The com ination with a receptacle having a door opening, of hin es secured at one edge of the opening an each having a swinging leaf extending across the opening to the opposite edge, hinges secured at the latter edge of said opening each having a swinging leaf and a stationary leaf shaped at one end to'underlie-the frend of one of the aforesaid leaves and form a stop therefor, two doors secured to the swinging leaves of the hinges and adapted to lie edge osed, and locking means arranged befication.

to edge 'and cover said opening in their `closed positions.

6. The combination with a receptacle hav-A overlapping the receptacle at the opposite edge, a narrow auxiliary door hinged to the latter edge close tothe free ends of said swinging leaves and adapted to overlie the latter when closed, a/main door overlying and secured to said leaves and forming with the other door an effective closure for said openin when both doors are closed, catches on sai auxiliary door remote from its hinge joint, and catch-engaging elements on the receptacle in osition to cooperate with said catches and leek both doors closed after they have been brought into closed positions,

7. The combination with a receptacle having a door opening, of hinges secured to the same at one edge of said opening and having rigid swinging leaves extending close to the sides of the opening and overlapping the receptacle at the opposite edge, a plurality of staves overlying and secured to said leaves and forming a main door narrower than said opening, and an auxiliary door hinged at the latter edge of said opening and adapted to `overlie leaves and with the main door close said opening when both doors are in their closed positions.

8. In combination, a hollow-horizontal cylinder mounted for angular movements about its .long axis, around said cylinder, said cylinder and said casing having door openings adapted to register with each otherin a' predetermined angular position of the cylinder, two cooperclose to the sides of and' the free ends of saidv `a stationary casing .I

ating doors for the opening in the cylinder,

` In testimony whereof, I sign this speci- JULIUs MAKE. 

